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There’s good news today (December 12) for fans of big-budget royal intrigue, as a third season of Victoria has been confirmed.

The PBS series stars Doctor Who‘s Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria, the great-great-grandmother of the current queen, played by Claire Foy in Netflix’s rival drama The Crown.

Jenna will be returning for a third outing as the young queen, who ascended the throne at just 18 — an even younger age than her descendent 115 years later, who was a comparatively mature 25. Once installed, Victoria dealt with everything from wars to constitutional crises in an ever-expanding empire.

Showrunner Daisy Goodwin gave away a little of what we can expect, saying: “Series three will start in 1848 which was a hugely dramatic and eventful time for both the royal family and Europe, with revolutions on the continent and uncertainty around the monarchy.

“Viewers can expect more drama than ever before in the third series.”

We can indeed. The bad news, however, is that 1848 was also the year Lord Melbourne died, which means the third season will probably be the last we see of Rufus Sewell.

The announcement that the show has been recommissioned is even better news for Victoria fans in the U.S., where season two is yet to air. It starts on 14 January 2018, meaning we can cue up our next regal obsession right away in the new year — if, ahem, we’ve already binge-watched the entire second season of The Crown by then.